Schools Try New Gimmicks to Beat Truancy

LOWELL, Mass., Jan. 25, 2005 — -- Going to school wasn't always a priority for 17-year-old Shawn Clod. He would skip days at a time, often working to support his mom and two sisters.

"Sometimes school was the last thing on my mind," said Clod, a senior at Lowell High School.

Lowell administrators say as many as 520 of the school's 4,000 students don't show up on any given day. Every day across the country, the government says, more than 3 million public school students fail to show up for class -- that's 5 percent of the country's school population.

"We have to do other things to make them want to come to school to overcome some of their issues," said principal Bill Samaras.

So this year, with the help of local businesses, Samaras is making a controversial offer to the senior class: free $1,200 laptop computers for students who achieve near-perfect attendance and who can prove they will attend college or enroll in the military after graduation.

"My mom was thrilled," said senior Jennifer Kincaid. "She was like, 'Do this. Do anything. You cannot miss school.'"

Principals across the country are trying similar tactics. School officials in Kansas City, Mo., are offering students $150 gift certificates to boost summer school attendance, and Trimble Technical High School in Fort Worth, Texas, is giving away a new car to the student who has the best attendance and academic record.

The prizes are big, but so are the stakes. The "No Child Left Behind" education act requires schools to increase academic achievement and decrease truancy. If not, they could lose crucial state and federal funding.

"Schools can no longer afford to have high rates of truancy," said William Modzeleski, associate deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education. "We clearly know kids who are not in school are not learning."